Device for minimizing damages arising from ship collisions



E' -ea June 1%? E. L. ZADE 3,326,171

DEVICE FOR MINIMIZING DAMAGES ARISING FROM SHIP COLLISIONS Filed July 9, 1965 1N VENIUR. E -E 0 11/55 Z4105 BY 72 a ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,326,171 DEVICE FOR MINIMIZING DAMAGES ARISING FROM SHIP COLLISIONS Ellen Louise Zade, 4012 Shelburn Court, Los Angeles, Calif. 90065 Filed July 9, 1965, Ser. No. 470,823 2 Claims. (Cl. 114-220) My invention has generally to do with ship construc tion. More particularly, it relates to means incorporated in such construction for minimizing or preventing damages resulting from ship collisions.

When ships are moving in foggy weather or uncharted waters, or are engaged in rescue or salvaging operations, it is well known that they risk the substantial hazard of colliding with each other or with some other object. The resultant damage is perhaps greatest when the relatively sharp bow of one ship strikes the side of another ship while travelling a path normal thereto. The impacts are of such magnitude that stationary reinforcing means, such as bumpers, would be of little or no avail.

It is therefore my prime object to provide, in combination with a ships hull, a collision preventive device which is operative during the initial impact or contact to change the direction of travel of the striking ship laterally in a manner to minimize the impact.

More particularly, it is my object to accomplish this purpose by mounting on a ships hull a rotatable abutment member which functions during the initial contact to swerve the bow of the striking ship laterally whereby to avoid head-on impact. That is, the rotatable abutment member may be mounted on the bow or on the side of the hull, or upon both My invention has other and more subordinate objects and advantages which will become apparent from the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments, for which purposes I shall refer to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view partly in section of the bow protective element;

FIG. 3 is a plan view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the side protective device;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

In the drawing, the numeral 5 denotes a conventional ships hull, broken line 6 the water line, 7 the bow portion of the hull, and 8 a side of the hull. Two species of my invention are shown, the numeral 10 generally designating what I shall call the bow protective element, and 11 generally denoting an exemplar of my side protective element.

Referring now to the bow protective element 10, it comprises a rotor 15 secured on a vertical shaft 16, journalled in bearings 18 carried by brackets 19 secured, as by Welding, to the bow portion of the hull. Thus the rotor 10 is mounted to rotate about a substantially vertical axis, or normal to the direction of travel of the ship. Preferably the rotor is composed of a elastomeric material which, if desired, may be rendered fluorescent by a suitable paint, so that in addition to constituting a rotating abutment, it also constitutes a moving visual signal. The motive power for rotating the rotor may be supplied as by an electric motor M, whose shaft is secured to the shaft 16, although other driving means may be employed. The brackets 19 preferably have bifurcated inner end portions as shown in FIG. 3 to facilitate firmly securing them to the sides of the hull adjacent the bow.

In operation, assuming that the ship is travelling forward at the time of an impending collision with, say, a side of another ship, the initial contact with the latter object will be the protective rotor which, upon contact, will cause the moving ship to swerve laterally and avoid a head-on or right angular collision.

Of course, if all ships were equipped with my bow protecting element, it. would be unnecessary to equip the sides of a ship with the side protecting elements 11 now to be described. While only one of the latter elements is illustrated, it will be understood, of course, that as many of the elements may be mounted on the side of the hull as may be desired.

A preferred construction of the element 11 is as follows: A continuous belt 20 of elastomeric material is bonded at its inner side to a metallic link belt 21 which is trained about toothed rollers 23, 24, whose teeth engage and rotate the link belt and its carried elastomeric belt. The rollers are secured, respectively, on vertical shafts 25, and the shaft of roller 23 is operatively connected to the shaft of an electric motor M. The shaft of the idler roller 24 is journalled in bearing members 30 from which screws 32 extend through angle iron brackets 34, so that the axis of roller 24 maybe adjusted toward and away from the axis of roller 23 to maintain the belt 20 sufficiently taut. The rollers 23 and 24 are rotatably supported by angle iron brackets 35 which are secured to the side 8 of the hull, as by welding or riveting.

Inasmuch as the outer run of the belt 20 would be the portion to receive the initial impact, to prevent the outer run from being collapsed against the inner run by the impact, I provide a metal abutment 40 between the two runs, said abutment being rigidly supported from the lower bracket 35 by brackets 41.

In the broader aspects of my concept, the feature of significant importance is that the protective device presents a surface for receiving the initial impact which surface is, at the time of the impact, being power driven to rotate about a substantially vertical axis, so that the result of the initial impact with the rotating surface will be to swerve and change the direction of travel of the impacting ship. Therefore, the particular means by which this rotating surface is provided is of lesser importance so long as it is sturdy enough to withstand the initial impact and the motive power for rotating the protective device is sufiicient to effect the desired swinging action. For instance, it is within the purview of my invention that the belt 20 may extend about and along the sides of an entire vessel, in which event one run of the belt would be against one side of the vessel and the other run would be against the opposite side.

It is not my proposal that my protective device be operated at all times during normal ship travel on well charted waters and in clear weather, but only during such times as the ship may be moving in foggy weather or uncharted waters, or during rescue or salvage operations when two or more vessels may be operating in close proximity to each other.

Inasmuch as my protective device is mounted on the hull above the water line, it will not impede travel of the ship in water during normal operations.

I claim:

1. In a collision preventing device for a ship, walls defining the ships hull, and means for protecting said hull against damage by an object colliding therewith comprising a pair of bracket members carried by said hull in vertically spaced parallel relationship to each other, a pair of rollers rotatably carried by said bracket members in spaced relationship to each other, electric motor means carried by one of said brackets for driving at least one of said rollers a continuous flexible belt trained about said rollers, and an abutment member rigidly carried by one of said bracket members between the races of said belt.

2. The device of claim 1 which additionally includes adjustable screw means carried by one of said bracket 3 4 members for adjusting one of said rollers relative to the 1,105,461 7/1914 Shipman 114220 other. 1,145,749 5/1915 Claud 11422() References Cited 1,376,710 7/ 1921 Law 114220 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,761,410 9/1956 Marr 114220 337,283 3/1886 Rickard 11646 X 5 445,910 2/1891 Stein 114-420 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner. 522,147 6/1894 Chambers 29320 50,474 4 1907 Guilford 293 20 X BELKIN, Assistant Examiner- 

1. IN LA COLLISION PREVENTING DEVICE FOR A SHIP, WALLS DEFINING THE SHIP''S HULL, AND MEANS FOR PROTECTING SAID HULL AGAINST DAMAGE BY AN OBJECT COLLIDING THEREWITH COMPRISING A PAIR OF BRACKET MEMBERS CARRIED BY SAID HULL IN VERTICALLY SPACED PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, A PAIR OF ROLLERS ROTATABLY CARRIED BY SAID BRACKET MEMBERS IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, ELECTRIC MOTOR MEANS CARRIED BY ONE OF SAID BRACKETS FOR DRIVING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID ROLLERS A CONTINUOUS FLEXIBLE BELT TRAINED ABOUT SAID ROLLERS, AND AN ABUTMENT MEMBER RIGIDLY CARRIED BY ONE OF SAID BRACKET MEMBERS BETWEEN THE RACES OF SAID BELT. 